Rick50

I'm inclined to agree KWard... That said... I DO think that Vietnam and Korea maps will probably be announced in 2023, and with a little luck, a whole bunch of software/driver updates, hardware updates, might even be ready for DCS players in 2026 or 27. Don't quote me on that, and no, I'm not in contact with anyone that could make that happen. Just a gut feeling is all, that we are fast approaching the time when this becomes POSSIBLE! Add to that all the era-correct modules arriving (or at least the basic airframe shapes won't look out of place in 'Nam), and the much increased community excitement over such possibilities...

Ha ha! I know EXACTLY when the F-4E will go on sale in the ED store!!! Take a look if you dare:

Are we there yet? Are we there yet?Are we there yet?Are we there yet? ? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? Are we there yet? jk!

You guys are making the mistake of assuming HB are using the Gregorian calendar, not the DCS Calendar! There's still plenty of time!

I'm not sure... Korea might be a bit of a challenge too, due to tree counts. Not as much as Vietnam, but maybe similar. That said, I think Korea as a DCS map would be quite popular, appealing for both the original war from decades ago, but also for more modern scenarios of today or during the cold war... think 4.o Falcons

According to Wiki, Vietnam/Area 331,210 km² Just the nation of VN's internal area for trees would need 33,121,000,000 trees. That's 33 Billion. None for neighbouring countries. All VN map for DCS that included bordering maps, would need 80 billion trees... (it's less than the total map area because about 1/3 is ocean)

I DID answer. You choose not to see it. ) proposed that MAYBE HB does NOT know, for certain, exactly when it's release will come, and thus can't tell us. It may well be out of their control now, might be depending on outside forces/conditions. Maybe ED quality control. Maybe testing for conflicts with other modules. Maybe setting it up in the store 100% properly, ready for mass download through many mirrored servers. Maybe the owners of Phantom intellectual property require a final inspection of the product before signing off (Boeing these days? I mean they did buy McDonald Douglas? ). It's entirely possible that they , HB don't know if it'll be purchaseable December or January. Or maybe early February.. I'm just playing "devil's advocate" around why we aren't getting solid answers, trying to figure out plausible explanations why. Not sure why people are getting so wound up about this or other modules... they'll get to us when the product is READY, and hopefully not a day too early so we can avoid a buggy release!!

They MIGHT not know themselves. Sometimes in business and operations, there are many different factors, all interconnected, that will affect the outcome timing. Predicting exact timings in such situations is a fools game, because it's unpredictable. Giving an answer in such situations doesn't actually make things better, but also creates the possibility of people being MORE upset if delays occur after an announcement. So there's no upside to giving a solid answer, because the answer may be wrong. Also, in such situations, it takes a lot of thinking calculating and guesswork to even come up with an answer, which is efforts better used to actually speed things up. I go through this every week in my workplace.

I think HB has an idea of the next variant, which I believe will be a USN carrier variant. Some of us suspect it'll be a J variant, but that might not be decided yet. After the Navy variant, who knows! It'll probably depend on sales of the first two modules (E and Navy), and maybe even more about access to enough data about whatever variants they want to consider. If the variant you are talking about never went into service... well, they MIGHT do it, but lack of hard data sources, that are legal, might be a steep uphill climb at best, and a showstopper at worst. Many people have different ideas of what they want from Phantom modules, some want 1960's era, others want 70's and 80's, and others still want the latest in super upgraded units. Somme want Wild Weasels with HARMs, others want laser designation, some want British Royal Navy variants... and some just want the early glory days of the original Sageburner! I personally see the benefit of photo recon birds... but most of all I want a common Navy or Marine variant to complement the E- International Gunfighter !!

I like that last one in the field!! Is that a real livery or a fiction? Just asking as I've not seen those colors on a KW before! I also see what looks like a fairly thick white line on the ground under the grass... is that markers for a FARP point? I vaguely seem to recall some discussion about some sort of FARP functionality being made by Poly for the Kiowa, is this a hint of it?

well, I'm not suggesting an engine change, just pointing out the challenge of tree count, object count to render in-game, and this vid had a real example to look at.

So earlier in this thread, I mention that it's my opinion that the object count, the total tree count for a Vietnam jungle map, is probably going to be a signifcant challenge for the dev team of such a project. I do think it'll be solved, but it's unclear if it's about to be solved in a few month's time, or if it'll need a decade to make it work well. I just saw this youtube vid talking about rendering trees in Unreal Engine 5.1, and one of the takeaways was this guy made a map that was 4 square kilometers, with a forrest of trees. How many? 400,000 trees. In 4 square kilometers. And it doesn't look like Vietnam does or did. Looks more like a forest in Germany.

Convair RB-58 Recce Hustler? I didn't even know such a thing existed! Less awesome than we'd expect from a Hustler due to the subsonic mission profile, but still a fascinating history! https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/the-convair-rb-58-recce-hustlers-short-but-fascinating-career

The next gen, B-52J or B-52K https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/our-first-look-at-what-fully-upgraded-b-52-bombers-will-look-like

Thank you! Yes, although not a lot of info, it's good solid info!

Do they have multiple teams? Legit question, as I don't know much about the company other than their past products and a little about their future roadmap.

I had a feeling I'd be agreeing with you, and a quick look at it's wiki page confirms it: nullhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hawker_Hunter Many built, 1900 Several big airforces Many small airforces that saw limited combat, Africa, South America and the Middle East. And of course it's a 1950's era Cold War jet, nothing like the Bugs and Vipers of today! I would HOPE that getting all the data to make this one ought to be legally available... Just the thing to dogfight those early Migs!!

Turbofan vs turbojet... in an airliner we have seen turbofans were the way to go for efficiency with thrust (dry thrust since no afterburners)... and the A-10 has turbofans too. But in a fighter jet? This makes me curious: did the Brit Spey Phantoms have better fuel efficiency in normal cruise speeds? Or was it pretty much the same? Maybe the aerodynamic changes resulted in cancelling out a slight turbine efficiency...

I like your creativity! Also, yes, good choices. Sure, we haven't seen much Hornet/Viper action in those countries, but the future could hold that, and fictional scenarios opens up all sorts of interesting possibilities, even if the real world geopolitics wouldn't actually go that way. The Grippen seems to be getting attention in South America... and the Super Tucano is selling like hotcakes... In the distant past, we used to see a lot of video games back in the 80's and 90's with "anti-drug cartel" storylines... that could work if it were done well, and some real creativity helped to embelish the story. Cuban Crisis gone hot... nightmarish for those that lived through it, but a DCS focus on this could be VERY interesting... recon, early SAM's, carrier ops, sub hunting, nook bomber intercepts...

Thank you!!

Not sure how you concluded that, but AI planes don't require even close to the efforts to make full modules. Especially full fidelity modules. The reason we don't see too many AI being made by ED, is that AI planes don't really pay the bills, don't really bring in revenue. Most of the AI planes that come with DCS are ones that originated back with the first LockOn or Flaming Cliffs era, maybe with a few upgrades here and there. Yes there are much more recent more detailed AI aircraft since then, and a few that are being worked on right now (B-1B, B-52H and SH-3 Viking) and a few ground units too. If ED slows or stops developing modules and leaves that to 3rd party devs, then we might see many interesting improvements, which would probably include more and better AI planes, but also better AI "pilots" behaving better and more realistic, along with many other things. But that might require a major change in business strategy, with no guarantees. As for the rest of your post, yes, that would be nice!

No idea, sorry. Maybe someone knows.

a quick article about Japan's Phantoms and their retirement from frontline service: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/37742/so-long-samurai-japan-bids-farewell-to-its-final-frontline-phantoms Edit: it's always impressed me how super clean the Japanese Phantoms have been kept... like it's an amazing point of pride for them! I mean sure, fresh coats of paint and regular washing, sure, but somehow I don't see other airforces keep ALL their planes as CONSISTENTLY clean as Japan does!

More vid and pics at the link: https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/25521/behold-arguably-the-most-spectacular-photo-of-nasas-shuttle-carrier-aircraft-ever